Les Chants de Maldoror is based on a character called Maldoror, a figure of unrelenting evil who has forsaken God and mankind. The book combines a violent narrative with vivid and often surrealistic imagery.

The critic Alex De Jonge writes, '"Lautreamont forces his readers to stop taking their world for granted. He shatters the complacent acceptance of the reality proposed by their cultural traditions and make them see that reality for what it is: an unreal nightmare all the more hair-raising because the sleeper believes he is awake."'

Comte de Lautréamont was the pseudonym of Isidore-Lucien Ducasse (4 April 1846 – 24 November 1870), an Uruguayan-born French poet.

His only works, Les Chants de Maldoror and Poésies, had a major influence on modern literature, particularly on the Surrealists and the Situationists. He died at the age of 24.

In 1917, French writer Philippe Soupault discovered a copy of Les Chants de Maldoror in the mathematics section of a small Parisian bookshop, near the military hospital to which he had been admitted. In his memoirs Soupault wrote:

"By the light of a candle that was permitted to me, I began reading. It was like an enlightenment. In the morning I read the Chants again, convinced that I had dreamed.... The day after, André Breton came to visit me. I gave him the book and asked him to read it. The following day he brought it back, enthusiastic as I had been."

Due to this find, Lautréamont was introduced to the Surrealists. Soon they called him their prophet. As one of the poètes maudits (accursed poets), he was elevated to the Surrealist Panthéon beside Baudelaire and Rimbaud, and acknowledged as a direct precursor to Surrealism. André Gide regarded him—even more than Rimbaud—as the most significant figure, as the "gate-master of tomorrow's literature," meriting Breton and Soupault "to have recognized and announced the literary and ultra-literary importance of the amazing Lautréamont."

The title of an object by American artist Man Ray, called L'énigme d'Isidore Ducasse (The Enigma of Isidore Ducasse), created in 1920, contains a reference to a famous line in the 6th canto. Lautréamont describes a young boy as "beautiful as the chance meeting on a dissecting-table of a sewing-machine and an umbrella!"Similarly, Breton often used this line as an example of Surrealist dislocation.

Maldoror inspired many artists: Fray De Geetere, Salvador Dalí, Man Ray, Jacques Houplain, Jindřich Štyrský, René Magritte, and Georg Baselitz. Individual works have been produced by Max Ernst, Victor Brauner, Óscar Domínguez, Espinoza, André Masson, Joan Miró, Aimé Césaire, Roberto Matta, Wolfgang Paalen, Kurt Seligmann, and Yves Tanguy. The artist Amedeo Modigliani always carried a copy of the book with him and used to walk around Montparnasse quoting from it.

In direct reference to Lautréamont's "chance meeting on a dissection table", Ernst defined the structure of the surrealist painting: "A linking of two realities that by all appearances have nothing to link them, in a setting that by all appearances does not fit them."

Félix Vallotton and Dalí made "imaginary" portraits of Lautréamont, since no photograph was available.

From the pyramids in Las Vegas and Egypt to palm trees in Florence and Goa, British photographer Martin Parr photographed his 'Small World'

Small World is about the difference between reality and mythology of a tourist location,' explains Parr, who has spent 20 years focussing his unforgiving lens on the tourist industry. 'When we get there it is often at odds with our expectations.'

Within Small World, Parr draws comparisons between scenes in countries thousands of miles apart; sometimes obviously - between the pyramid in Las Vegas and its original counterpart in Egypt - and sometimes subtly by examining the hand gestures of tourists at the leaning tower of Pisa and street sellers displaying their goods in Goa.

Photographs from Martin Parr's series Small World will be on show at Athens House of Photography (until 05.08.12)

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

So long you did me wrongSo long you did me wrongBaby, what you're doing now you're pissin' me offUhh but your hair is so luxurious and your lips are so soft uuhAnyway you slice it uh, you're doing me wrongBut I love the way you walk now and your legs are so long.

Well your looks had me putty in your hand nowBut I took just as much as I can stand now

And you can walk your long legs baby right out of my lifeSo long you did me wrong

From the moment that I met you I thought you were fine, so fineBut your shitty fuckin' attitude has got me changing my mindYeah

Everybody tells me uuh, I need to let go, I knowBut your cocoa butter skin now has got me beggin' for moreWell your heels keep on runnin' through my head nowTryin' to deal but I'm coming to the end now

And you can walk those high heels baby right out of my lifeSo long you did me wrong

Tell me why, why do you turn the blues skies cloudy greyYou know why I can't let you keep treatin' me this wayYou've been chuckin' me around but uhh, I kept my eyes shut yeah'Cause your shape is like an hourglass but I think the time's up

Well your heart is like a black piece of coal nowAnd I doubt that you ever had a soul now

And you can walk your cold heart baby out of my lifeSo long you did me wrong

Yeah you can walk your cold heart baby right out of my lifeSo long you did me wrongSo long you did me wrongLeave me alone

Monday, June 25, 2012

The Swing Shoes were formed in Athens in 2006. Initially a street guitar duo, they gradually evolved into a four-piece with the standard gypsy swing instrumentation: two guitars, bass and violin.

At first their music appears to follow the rules of the swing folk idiom. It is rhythmic, it is vibrant; it is feel-good music. But the way they cover traditional Greek tunes, jazz standards, and several atypical numbers is so unpredictable that the listener finds himself puzzled, wondering “where does this familiar tune come from?”

Adonis (g), George (g),

Panos (b), and Andreas (vl),

combine their influences to create music with a passion. Their first album “Ladies and Gents, HERE’S THE SWING SHOES” - released in 2010 on Prominence Records - has received rave reviews.

The Swing Shoes appear regularly in many clubs in Athens and play festivals all over Greece. They perform as an instrumental quartet and also as a six-piece with female vocalist Eirini Dimopoulou and drummer Nick Zografos or female vocalist Sughaspank! and percussionist Oxocube. Occasionally the set-up includes full personnel (8 people). My___link

These photos are from their live appearance at: Megaron's Garden 21-06-2012 (European Music Day)

21st of June – European Music Day - Summer Solstice and Music is celebrating.

"Year by year European Music Day is establishing more and more events all over Greece. The idea is catching on!

We hope that one day on the 21st of June, we will hear music everywhere, on every corner, every square, every street, every concert location and every park. All kinds of artists and all kinds of music along with crowds will dance in the streets and displace the cars.

Schools, conservatories and every organisation that is familiar with the magic of a “musical-score” will organise their own concerts.

In France the state has passed an act that allows (music) noise disturbance on the specific day, why not in Greece as well? Upcoming Greek and foreign bands will play in public spaces throughout Greece and artist exchanges from city to city and country to country will multiply and we will all discover a previously unknown group.

European Music Day is working for a dream come true sooner or later. This is why it organizes with the support of public, state, private sponsors and institutions, as many as possible music performances all over Greece. The events are always free and artists perform free of charge or with minimum compensation. Because when music celebrates we‘re all invited…!" More about E.M.D. here